1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to protective garments and animal carcass shrouds employed in meat processing or packing plants for protecting employees engaged in various operations in such a plant and more effectively clothing an animal carcass thereby enabling the meat packing plant personnel to more safely and effectively perform their duties and to provide a better animal carcass by improving the characteristics of the carcass shroud.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the processing of animal carcasses in a meat packing plant, after slaughtering, eviscerating and in some instances skinning, the carcass is covered with a shroud and placed in a cooler for chilling. Such shrouds are normally constructed of cotton or other natural fibers such as ramie. U.S. Pat. No. 2,824,011, issued Feb. 18, 1958, describes this procedure in detail and sets forth the advantages derived from the use of a shroud. Also, in meat packing plants, a substantial portion of the personnel is engaged in meat cutting operations in which sharp knives must be used which results in many accidents where the user of such a knife will accidentally cut himself. As a result of the occurrence of such accidents, safety garments have been developed and are being currently used in meat packing plants. Such safety garments are in the form of gloves, arm guards, aprons, with or without the bibs, leggings and the like. Presently available protectors and safety garments of this type are constructed of a metal mesh material which is constructed of small brass rings connected together to form a mesh-like metal fabric. Safety garments of the type used in the meat packing industry are at least partially disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,736,928, issued Nov. 21, 1929 and 2,629,102 issued Feb. 24, 1953.
The metal mesh fabric of the brass ring type presents problems when the metal links break since the links will fall into the product that the person is working on thus contaminating the meat, fish or poultry product. Also, due to the manner in which the mesh material is constructed, it collects fat, meat, dirt and provides areas for bacteria growth which introduces further possibility of contamination. Also, the metal mesh material tends to irritate the skin of the wearer when it is formed into a glove, arm guard or the like due to its abrasiveness and also due to its weight which introduces a fatigue factor. Frequently, persons wearing metal mesh gloves, aprons, arm guards, leg guards and the like work in a cooler to protect the meat products they are cutting from being exposed to warm air which will provide a longer shelf life for the products. Due to this cool condition, cotton gloves are frequently worn under the mesh gloves to keep the hands warm due to the open mesh and conductivity of the metal. When such gloves and the mesh material are used, the mesh material quickly becomes colored very similar to the meat product thus making it difficult for the person using the knife to distinguish between the meat product and the glove which is believed to be a frequent cause of the meat cutter cutting into the glove and in some instances cutting himself.